chasing the wind
by Miss Ming
Summary: a post apocalyptic world, two factions, danger around every corner. tf2 AU


I drummed my pencil against my desk. It was my birthday today, my fifteenth. Looking around the room I could see almost half the class was goofing off. Nothing unusual there. No one could really expect a class of scout-class people to actually sit still and pay attention for any great length of time. The teacher had just called up two of my classmates for a demonstration when the door opened.

A person stepped in. He wore white, a high end messenger. The messenger paused at the door, his eyes surveying the classroom for a moment before speaking.

"I am here for Jamie."

I froze. I had known this was coming. But having the messenger come was something else. Letting out a breath I hadn't known I'd been holding, I stood up. "That's me."

"Come." The messenger turned on his heel and exited the room.

I forced my numb legs to cooperate and take me towards the door.

The messenger led me to the school's teleport hub and activated the one teleporter that was never activated. He stood to one side and stared at me. "Go." He ordered.

I shivered, the white messenger's voice thoroughly creped me out. But I followed his order. There wasn't really much I could do.

RED/BLU

I appeared in a room with nothing but a screen and two teleporter entries, one red, one blue. I tried the doors, both locked. I turned to the screen as it flickered on. Nothing but a hazy silhouette.

"It is time for your choice, Scout. After this you will never come back to Sydney Ruins. A choice that will determine the course of your life. Will you chose Reliable Excavation & Demolition or Builders League United. RED or BLU." the teleporters activated, whirring to life with a high pitched whine and the screen cut off along with the lights.

I looked towards the teleporters. Which one did my brother pick when it was his turn? I turned to the BLU teleporter. Was that what he chose? Or RED? I looked between the two, considering.

I must have 'considered' for at least an hour. Probably paced a hole in the floor too before I stepped up to the RED teleporter.

"I'm ready." I whispered to no one in particular as the teleporter activated.

RED/BLU

I opened my eyes to the main RED headquarters of Sydney Ruins. I stepped off the teleporter as I looked around.

The teleport hub was just off a huge foyer with high ceilings and a wide staircase. Filled with people wearing red, I suddenly felt so small and in shock at the choice I had made.

Someone came towards me through the crowd. "Hey you, by the teleporter!" she said

My head jerked up.

"Name?"

"Jamie."

"Class?"

"Scout."

She nodded "welcome to RED. I'm Alice, Blank. If you'll follow me I'll get you sorted." I nodded. A Blank, people with no ability at all, the RE-spawn system wouldn't even work for them. I shuddered at the thought. Apparently that's what we all used to be like before The War.

"You'll first be having your medical exam to see if RE-spawn will work for you. Then you'll get your new gear. Kay?" Alice looked at me to make sure I was paying attention.

I nodded, my eyes still going this way and that to try and take in as much as I could. "Do we get a choice as to what area we're put into?" I asked

Alice nodded "Uh-huh. Although if you test out to be RE-spawn negative, front lines will be closed to you."

"But I thought only Blanks tested RE-spawn negative - I mean that's what they taught us in class..." RE-spawn, an amazing system that brought people back from the dead was created almost fifty years ago by the combined efforts of a RED engineer and a BLU medic. Only thing was, it didn't work for everyone.

"I want to be front lines though." I said "if not that, then something that travels a lot."

"Well don't you worry your pretty little head. The Doc'll take a quick look at you and send you on your way." She pushed open a door and led me into a so very sterile room. "Hey Do~c. Looks like we've got ourselves a new recruit."

Grumbling in who knows what language came from a wooden door off to the side. Out came a man a head taller than Alice and looked like he'd lost a fight with a lawnmower.

"Vhat? Who?"

Alice pointed at me and I gulped.

"Vell, come in, I don't bite. That's Plato's job." The Doc waved me into his lair with a smile and suddenly I wished I didn't have to take the exam.

RED/BLU

I threw open the doors to the examination room and ran out so fast I hit the wall on the other side. Had that been my heart!? If I never had to go into another medical room it would be too soon! Alice got up from her spot on a bench I had previously not noticed and sauntered over.

"So, how'd it go? Got a positive I take it?"

I nodded, ashen faced and looking between the now closed doors of the medic's lair and Alice.

"Cool. No-one with a negative comes running out like that." She started down the hall. "Let's get you kitted out."

I followed, noting the steely grey corridors that branched off from the one we were in. "oh yea, umm… where am I?"

Alice took a left. "RED headquarters, Tokyo. From here you'll be shipped out to either one of the frontlines bases or you'll be put into an apprenticeship based on your schooling marks. Since you've already expressed interest in frontlines, you don't have to worry about apprenticeships." She threw a grin back at me. "ah, here we are." we stopped at a door and she stared at me for a moment"… have you met a soldier or a heavy before?"

"No."

A smirk spread across Alice's face. "Don't stare."

RED/BLU

It was all I could do to not to.

Two meters tall and I'm pretty sure he wasn't standing straight. "So. You are a new recruit?"

"Y-yes." Was that a second set of arms?

The giant laughed. Then you'll be needing a full set of gear, wont you."

Yes. Yes it was.

Two arms measured me while the other two (four! REALLY! Could this day get any weirder?) Got items of clothing out. As he returned the clothing to a desk on the side he caught me staring. "You got a problem?"

I froze remembering that Alice had said not to stare. "No sir."

"Good" He grunted. He handed me a pile of clothes and a bag. "Here. These are the only clothes you get free. Anything after this you have to pay for. Got it?"

"Yes sir." Wow, being two meters tall really made you intimidating.

"Now get lost."

I followed orders.

"Alright-y, looks like we're almost done. We just need to check who's going to get you and get you your weapons." Alice looked over at me. "The scouts still teach blunt instruments and short to mid range firearms right?"

"Yea."

"Cool that makes it easy for the armoury."

The door to the armoury was dented and scratched. Not something that inspired confidence.

Alice knocked on the door and stepped back quickly. Two hands burst out of flaps I hadn't previously noticed in the doors and grasped at the air where Alice's neck would have been. "NECK SNAP!"

Alice sighed. "Robert, its Alice. Not a BLU spy. Or swimmer."

The door opened a crack and a bloodshot eye peered out.

"If ya wer a swimmer girlie I'hm pretty sure yer wouldn't ta bothered knockin." A gristly old man's face peered out, unshaven and absolutely reeking.

I stepped back involuntarily, really starting to think that I should have picked BLU even if my brother wasn't there.

"Robert, meet Jamie. She's scout class, new and needs to get kitted out. Got it?"

"Ma'am." The door opened wider to allow us entry.

What I entered into was… an organised hurricane. Weapons everywhere but there was a filing system; just not one that I could see.

Roger looked me up and down, "scouts, pheh. Should give you a good ol rocket launcher an' be dun wit it. Nun o' that prissey pistol stuff." He walked off into the stacks of weapons, muttering to himself.

He returned with a shotgun and a pistol and placed them on a metal desk. "Here. Blunt instruments o'er there. Most scouts end up pickin a bat or th' like. sumtin' ter do wit it bein' light ah guess."

I spotted the indicated rack and made my way over. My eyes glossed over the weapons. Too heavy, too long, too soft, too squiggly. I turned back to Alice and Robert. "Umm, I was trained as a spy for my early years. Could look at their close range weapons too?"

Robert's eyes narrowed and he grunted "there."

Several rows of daggers to choose from, none too spectacular but better than the blunt options. I picked one out with its accompanying holster "this one please." I carried it over to where my shotgun and pistol were waiting.

"A'right kid, this is how it works. Yer break it. Yer buying yer'self a new one. Yer want a different one, yer buyn' it. Got it? Ammo's supplied on base."

"Yessir."

"Now geddouta here, maggot."

RED/BLU

"Soo…" went Alice

"So what?"

"Spy training eh?"

"What, my forms don't mention I'm a mixed blood?" I asked

"Err, no. though you may want to keep that little fact a secret when you're on the front lines. I dunno what the schools thought of that but up on the front lines they tend to look at you a little shifty." Alice paused. "Why'd you quit spy training?"

I grimaced. "There's no point in being invisible if everyone can hear you coming a mile off. You also need an attention span of more than ten minutes."

"That'd do it." A device beeped at Alice's side and she took it from its holster. She examined its screen for a moment then nodded. "Huh, well you got a choice between where you want to go it seems." She paused, sparing me a glance. "There's the option between ctf-tur.b1n3 and pl-up.w4rd."

"Umm?" I scratched my head in confusion. "Can you explain a little? The number-letter thingy's got me a little confused."

Alice raised an eyebrow "ctf-tur.b1n3 or turbine as it's called by the folks that are stationed there is stationed around a turbine. It's mostly enclosed, lots of air vents and concrete. Pl-up.w4rd or upward, on the other hand is on the top of a large hill with a few smaller buildings dotted around the area. Mostly open space."

I grimaced at the idea of being inside all the time. "Upwards sounds pretty good."

"Problem solved, Pl-up.w4rd it is then." Alice entered something into the device and nodded. "Alright, back to the teleporters."

As we walked Alice explained about the other bases

"Now, the base you never, ever want to get sent to is coldfont(?). There's only ever been one person that's been promoted from there."

"RED or BLU?" I asked

"RED" Alice answered, full of pride. "He's really quite famous among the front lines. Jackson 'The Immortal' Pyro."

"The Immortal?"

"He's never died. Fifteen years on the front lines and he's never died. Every base he's been stationed at has had their success rate skyrocket."

Alice and I entered the teleport room, my mind reeling from the information I'd absorbed. An engineer was calibrating one of the teleporters as we walked in.

"Pl-up.w4rd connection up and going." The engineer spared me a glance. "Enjoy the trip."

The teleporter was somewhat gruntier than any of the ones I'd seen around school. As I stepped on I felt as if I was suddenly spun at great speed then thrown before landing at the receiving teleporter.

And all that greeted me was a ramshackle sign that read 'welcome to upwards: caution high winds' and a thoroughly unimpressed man striding towards me.


End file.
